The Strongest Parts Of Your Career Are Probably Missing From Your CV

Nobody had ever told Peter his CV was the problem.

His wife had looked at it and said it was good. His former colleague had glanced at it and said it looked professional. Even the career coach he had paid for two sessions had made some formatting suggestions and sent him on his way.

Everyone had been kind. Nobody had been honest.

Peter had been applying for senior sales roles for nine months, and the silence was becoming impossible to ignore. He was not the kind of person who talked about it much. He had been sending out applications daily just before going to bed, then refreshing his emails in the morning, only to find silence each time.

Nine months of kitchen table evenings and almost nothing to show for it.

Peter Was Not An Average Salesman

He had a track record of six years in sales. He had made deals that made him the highest-performing salesperson in his company.

He had been the person his sales director called when a key account was at risk of leaving, not because it was his account but because Peter was the one who could walk into a difficult conversation and walk out with the relationship intact.

He was not average. He had never been average.

But his CV did not say any of that.

What The CV Said About Peter

How did you put this together?”

He shifted slightly in his seat.

“I used an AI tool,” he said. “I had heard it was the best way to get past the screening systems. Make sure the right keywords are in there.”

I nodded and picked up the CV.

The keywords were in there. Everything else was not. His CV was amazing, yet all his biggest achievements, all his wins and all the things that made him exceptional at his job were not there.

Peter had made the mistake that I have seen many professionals make daily. He had confused modesty with professionalism. He had handed his career to an AI tool, and it shrunk all his achievements to the point where his CV was invisible to hiring managers.

Four weeks later, after working on his CV, Peter sent me a message on a Sunday afternoon.

He had three interviews lined up for the following week. Two companies had reached out within days of receiving his CV.

Final Thoughts

If you have spent any time making your achievements smaller on paper because you did not want to seem like you were showing off, I want you to hear this clearly.

If the strongest parts of your career are buried at the bottom or missing entirely, they will not find them.

Click here to get started. The strongest parts of your career belong at the top.